The much-delayed, ambitious scheme of affixing foolproof stickers on legally manufactured liquor bottles is yet under review, following an attempt to hand over the contract to an Indian company, a top official, who declined to be named, told the Business Times. The sticker system announced in the 2016 Budget was scheduled to be introduced with [...]

Foolproof sticker for liquor bottles yet under review

By Bandula Sirimanna

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The much-delayed, ambitious scheme of affixing foolproof stickers on legally manufactured liquor bottles is yet under review, following an attempt to hand over the contract to an Indian company, a top official, who declined to be named, told the Business Times. The sticker system announced in the 2016 Budget was scheduled to be introduced with the view to controlling the illicit liquor circulation in the country and to control the leakages, he said.

But the implementation will be further delayed due to alleged tender bending although the bidding process was completed in 2017, he added. When this tender was initially called in 2016, the technical committee headed by the then Excise Commissioner General A. Bodaragama suggested to the cabinet to hand over the contract to an Indian company, Madras Security Printers Pvt Ltd, official documents revealed. This tender was re-called on February 2017 following objections raised by other bidders.

However, a letter under the signature of a top Treasury official was sent to them stating that the technical committee has again recommended the Indian company to carry out the printing job. Madras Security Printers had been selected despite the capabilities of the State Printing Corporation and other eligible local firms, several dejected bidders complained.

Voice against Corruption (VAC) Convenor Wasantha Samarasinghe told the Business Times a complaint would be handed over to the Bribery or Corruption investigation Commission soon exposing details of this corrupt deal incurring a loss of Rs. 420 million to the state.

The loss in excise revenue due to the delay in implementing the foolproof sticker system runs into several billions of rupees.According to tender documents, 384 million stickers will have to be printed per year and the contract is for five years.If this contract is given to Madras Security Printers the rupee equivalent of foreign exchange outflow to India would be around Rs.3.96 billion, an independent estimation revealed.

The Indian company’s bid for the deal was US$5.99 per sticker during the second tender although its initial bid was $3, other bidders claimed adding that one of them has placed a bid of $4.57. On June 11, 2015, the Cabinet approved the proposal to affix a protective label (sticker) on each legally manufactured bottle of arrack and on bottles of imported liquor before being released by the Customs. This was to prevent illegally manufactured liquor from entering the market.